Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier appointed next French PM

Confirmation of EU’s former talks chief breaks long deadlock but questions remain on whether he would survive a confidence vote

Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier as the new French prime minister after a long deadlock caused by snap elections.
The EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator was at the Elysée Palace on Wednesday evening for talks about taking over the post.
However, it is not clear he can survive a no-confidence vote in the French parliament, where no party has full control.
Mr Barnier drove a hard bargain in Brexit negotiators, infuriating Brexiteers during a time of tense relations with the EU. His appointment is likely to rile pro-Brexit groups in the UK.
Mr Macron has been under pressure to break the deadlock ahead of a deadline to submit a draft 2025 government budget for France’s strained government finances before October 1.
On Tuesday, Bruno La Maire, the outgoing finance minister, announced that the French deficit was heading to be higher than expected, at 5.6 per cent of GDP this year and to surpass six per cent in 2025.
The protracted political deadlock came after Mr Macron called the polls earlier this summer after Marine Le Pen’s populist Eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party trounced his ruling coalition in the June European elections.
The legislative elections ended in a hung parliament split into three blocs.
The Left-Green NFP coalition emerged as the biggest political force but with nowhere near enough seats for an overall majority.
Mr Macron’s centrist faction and the RN make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly.
Mr Barnier is a staunch pro-European and a career moderate politician, but he toughened his discourse considerably during his failed 2021 attempt to get the ticket to run for his Republicans party for the presidential election, saying immigration was out of control.
Sebastien Chenu an MP for the RN, earlier on Thursday morning told BFM TV that the party would wait to see what Mr Barnier has to say on immigration, and on changing France’s voting system.
Laurent Jacobelli, also an RN MP, said one condition was that they would agree to dissolve parliament as soon as possible – which would be early July next year.
“The RN wants a prime minister who is committed to dissolving as soon as possible and establishing proportional representation (for parliamentary elections),” Mr Jacobelli told TF1.